QB Manziel fuels Aggies' strong start

Updated 12:29 am, Friday, October 5, 2012

Johnny Manziel is making a quick impact with the Aggies, leading the team to a 3-1 start.

Johnny Manziel is making a quick impact with the Aggies, leading the team to a 3-1 start.

Photo: Ronald Martinez

QB Manziel fuels Aggies' strong start

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COLLEGE STATION - From his spot on the sideline, Texas A&M offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury flinches every time freshman quarterback Johnny Manziel takes a pop - or metes out one of his own while on the run.

"I say it every time," Kingsbury said, when asked if he tells Manziel to slide instead of, say, slam his helmet into a surprised defender. "But that's just how he plays the game."

"He extends plays as good as anyone I've seen in this game," Rebels coach Hugh Freeze said.

That's quite a declaration, considering Manziel has played all of four college contests in leading the Aggies to a 3-1 start in their first season in the Southeastern Conference.

"Based on results, he's been pretty good," a more cautious A&M coach Kevin Sumlin said. "He wants to be really, really good. He wants to develop into a complete quarterback, and to do that you've got to be honest and critical with yourself concerning your limitations and your strengths. And that takes time - a long time."

What Manziel, a former Kerrville Tivy star, has done in a short time, however, boggles the mind. Last Saturday in the Aggies' 58-10 whipping of Arkansas, Manziel set the SEC record with 557 total yards. Ole Miss' Archie Manning (1969) and LSU's Rohan Davey (2001) held the previous mark with 540, each against Alabama.

"When I see a freshman like that I wonder, 'What was he like in high school? Did anybody even tackle him?' " Manning told TexAgs radio on Thursday. "A&M ought to feel real good about its entrance into a tough conference with a youngster like that."

Road test up next

Manziel Mania has enveloped Aggieland, much as it did Kerrville a couple of years ago when he gained an astounding 11,771 yards for the Antlers (7,313 passing, 3,920 rushing and 538 receiving) along with 154 touchdowns.

Now, the question begs: How will Manziel fare in crossing the Sabine River for the first time as a freewheeling college quarterback? The Aggies have played one prior road game, a 48-3 victory at SMU, where there were as many A&M fans as Mustangs faithful.

That won't be the case Saturday night in a boisterous Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, as the Rebels, 2-10 last season, are feeling their oats coming off a 33-14 loss at top-ranked Alabama in a game in which they outscored the Crimson Tide 7-6 in the second half.

Opponents impressed

Sumlin hasn't allowed his freshmen to visit with the media to date, so Manziel's thoughts on facing Ole Miss are unknown. His opponents' aren't.

"(Manziel) can run, he's real shifty and mobile. He's a playmaker," Rebels linebacker Denzel Nkemdiche told Ole Miss writers this week. "We know things to take care of that, and I feel like we're really going to slow him down."

Nkemdiche also said, "We want him to run the ball this weekend, big time."

The Rebels are likely to get their wish, considering Manziel leads the Aggies in rushing by a wide margin (366 yards to Ben Malena's 204). Manziel dodged and darted for a game-high 104 rushing yards in addition to throwing for a school-record 453 yards in the Razorbacks rout.

"At the end of the day, the guy finds a way to extend play after play," Freeze said. "It ends up being a dagger, and that's concerning."